It’s Thursday night, and we’ve got some quick drive-by comic book thoughts for you. That’s right it’s the Pure Mood Pull List! Here’s what I picked up at the shop this week…

…and here’s my without-scans and much shorter than usual thoughts on them! Sorry, but it’s just been one of those weeks. As always, if you’re looking for the very best in Marvel reviews, head on over to http://www.marveldisassembled.com. I’m over there talking about WOLVERINE #3 and THOR: GOD OF THUNDER #8. So check it out! As always, HUGE SPOILERS for all titles below.

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Holy heck, that is one beautiful cover. The inside is complimentary to the tone of surreality and weirdness the cover hits – UNCANNY X-FORCE is the ‘weird’ X-book. It’s funny, because I think a lot of people would classify X-MEN LEGACY that way, but that title isn’t weird as much as different than what we’re used to seeing on the superhero market, UXF, meanwhile, revels in it’s weirdness. A lot of this comes from the dialogue more than the story (though there’s plenty of weirdness there, including Psylocke fighting a giant psychic mind-bear). Humphries writes everything just a little off kilter, a little more affected, detached or even otherworldly than we’re used to hearing – characters talk in bizarre idiosyncratic lines that sound almost like indie singer-songwriter lyrics. This isn’t a bad thing. Storm and Pyslocke have great chemistry, Puck continues to be a delight, Spiral’s sensitivity is revealed and the mystery with Bishop opens up more and more. Less selfcest with the Fantomex’s this time around, but it’s still a great issue.

I loved this issue. Hickman continues his now infamous intricate and slow plotting, telling small entertaining stories that will build to a mosaic of complexity sometime down the line. This small piece of the puzzle is a fun heist adventure starring Shang-Chi, as well as the women of Marvel’s mightiest heroes. Hickman does a wonderful job characterizing Carol, and has a real blast with a raucous, cocky Black Widow. Deodato’s pencils look almost unrecognizable when paired with Frank Martin’s colour work – at first glance, I almost thought I was looking at Dustin Weaver. I’ve never been a Deodato fan, but this was a great looking book.

ALPHA BIG TIME #4 written by Joshua Hale Fialkov, art by Nuno Plati, colour art by John Rauch, lettered by Joe Sabino

I’m really fascinated by Andrew MacGuire, and even though this miniseries hasn’t been particularly memorable, it’s been interesting to see the character stumble upon his own path. There are some fun moments here with the Miller, an up and coming supervillain who’s built a hammer than can transmute matter. The possibility of a family tragedy towards the end seems like a bit of a forced hand, and a lot of the character interaction between Alpha and the students at school/civilians around town are pretty underwhelming. A solid series, but pretty skippable.

Listen up, Marvel fans – this is a must buy. I was shocked to open up this book and see the name of Al Ewing, one of my all time favourite comic book writers, on the inside of a summer event tie-in comic, and he does not disappoint in bringing a much higher level of craft than you would expect. Ewing focuses on how the superheroes of Britain are being affected by Ultron, specifically James Braddock himself. Ewing throws amazing ideas at us – including a superhero from the ’80s who could transport into video games like the Commodore 64 and now hopes to upgrade himself into Ultron’s mainframe. It’s a great, imaginative, fun and chilling superhero comic. Hope to see more from Ewing at Marvel in the future!

THE FEARLESS DEFENDERS #4 written by Cullen Bunn, art by Will Sliney, coloured by Veronica Gandini, lettered by Clayton Cowles

First of all, there’s no way I’m not buying a DEFENDERS comic. Second of all, there’s no way I’m not buying a book starring either Valkyrie, Misty Knight or Dani Moonstar, and this one’s got all three. That being said, I wish this were better. It’s a perfectly serviceable comic book. Bunn writes some pretty sharp dialogue, Sliney’s art is solid (though particularly rushed towards the end), the characterizations ring true and the storyline is rather interesting. But none of these pieces are coming together. I’m not clicking with FEARLESS DEFENDERS’ slow pacing and middling storyline. I think this comic could be great in the future, and with characters as great as these there’s no way I’m not picking it up, but man, I wish this were better.

ROCKETEER HOLLYWOOD HORROR #4 by Roger Langdrige and J. Bone

Sometimes life isn’t fair. Case in point, this series not being one million issues long. As excited as I am for Mark Waid and Paul Smith’s Rocketeer/Spirit crossover, this comic seemed intent on packing all of my favourite things into one comic book – superheroes, Groucho Marx, H.P. Lovecraft, sci-fi, golden age Hollywood…and fun. Glorious, four-colour action packed fun! Langdrige does go beyond the fun, and manages to reveal some pretty interesting insights about Betty and Cliff, as well as the nature of evil. And of course, robot Cthulhu.

Well, that’s it for this week! Sorry for the short post, things will be back to normal next week. If you’d like to talk about any of the other delicious comics I didn’t have time to talk about, leave a comment below!

UXF was really good. Some cool action, Spiral was sympathetic for the first time in a while, the friendship between Storm and Psylocke shows through, and Puck is awesome.

Avengers was fun. A little more character-focused than usual, which was nice. I wish this series was more along these lines in general.

Alpha was meh. Just totally meh.

Avengers Assemble was great. Very British.British writers just seem better, somehow. They can balance humour and drama. Marvel needs to get Al Ewing doing more work for them.

Fearless Defenders was fun. I’m interested in seeing who’s recruited next. That page of Annabelle talking to Val was horrible, though. Sliney must have been rushing, because that page was just terrible, terrible art.

UXF is one of my favourite X-line ups in a while. They’re just such disparate characters, and they all play off each other so well. And you’re spot on about Spiral.
As we get closer and closer to the end, I’m finding it ever harder to be into ALPHA. The talent involved is great, I love the character, but….something isn’t working. It’s bland.
Yes ten thousand times about Ewing doing more work for Marvel!